Grease an 8" X 4" loaf pan well or line with foil and grease foil. (I buttered a glass 8.5" X 4.5" loaf dish. That's the smallest I had.

In medium bowl, beat pumpkin, Splenda, baking powder, vanilla, spice and salt, if using, with electric mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs, then almonds. Add a little water, if needed, to make a thick, but pourable batter. (I didn't need to add any water and I can't imagine that anyone else would.) Pour into pan and bake at 300º for 60-75 minutes until cake pulls away from sides of pan a bit and toothpick comes out clean. (I cooked mine for 65 minutes and it came out perfect. I could have probably left it in another few minutes, but it looked great at 65! ) This comes out so moist that the extra baking time will be OK.

Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and peel off foil (if used). Cool completely on rack before slicing. Store in refrigerator or freeze. Makes 1 loaf or 12 servings. Can be frozen.

I will try this with liquid Splenda next time, but am a bit fearful of making it too moist. The finished produce is bordering on "too moist" right now... actually it's just right!

I will definitely make this again! Very easy to make and extremely tasty! The extra bit of pumpkin pie spice was worth it! (Yes, the above photo is the actual one I made! Click on the photo for a larger version.)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Late last year, my doctor put me on blood pressure medication in order to get it down into the normal range. This was the first time in my life that I'd been prescribed regular medication, i.e. "take this forever" medication.

Having been overweight for pretty much all my life, I guess that I'm quite lucky that I don't have even more medical issues. My cholesterol is very low - even though I'm reading a lot lately that cholesterol may not be that much to worry about. (And people with normal or low cholesterol have heart attacks, too!) My sugars are completely normal.

I know that pills are a way of life for many people due to illnesses and conditions, but high blood pressure due primarily to obesity is completely avoidable.

I hate those damn pills! And I'm determined to get off them if I can. I realize that even some thin people need high blood pressure pills - my mother is one of them, and I know others who are normal weight and need medication to keep their blood pressure in check.

But when you're overweight, you have the ability to at least see if a major lifestyle change will be enough to take you off these meds.

I've lost 58 lb in four months. My blood pressure was under control when I started my new low-carb way of eating, but this was due solely to the meds. I wasn't doing anything to help it along.

When I was first diagnosed with high blood pressure a little over a year ago, I was at 170/100. Very high. Three months ago, my pressure was at 135/90 - or something like that. Today, it was 110/80. Everything is certainly moving in the right direction.

As I continue this journey to a regular weight, I told my doctor that my goal is to get off the meds. Of course, we'll have to see how things go. I realize that some people can't get off them, but I'm certainly going to try. I can't imagine that losing A LOT of weight won't have a very significant impact on the dosage or even my need for them at all.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

This is great! Another 1 lb gone for a total of -58 lb!! This week, I attended a conference and was out of town for a few days. I did not stray one iota from low-carb (and was not tempted in the least), but the water drinking really took a hit! I was working at the conference, so it was difficult to keep up with the water when you're running around for 12-15 hours per day! With that said, I did get a tremendous amount of exercise and was very happy to have that big chunk of weight gone already because having to do all that walking and running around with an extra 58 lb on me would have been terrible. So it's all good. With this week being spent in the office, I will be drinking water like crazy and looking forward to a good loss next week. I don't normally set weight-loss goals because I can't force my body to get rid of what it isn't ready to release yet... but I'm really aiming for at least 2 lb next week and cross that -60 lb threshold!

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About Me

Writer, columnist and communications consultant. Author of "Hump Day" - a weekly humour/general interest column, and Social Media Matters, a column dealing with social media. Member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Canadian Association of Journalists.